Circuits and methods providing voltage adjustment as processor cores become active

Abstract

A method including receiving an indication of a number of active processing units in a computer processor; in response to receiving the indication, determining an appropriate operating voltage margin for the computer processor; reducing an operating frequency of the active processing units in response to receiving the indication; adjusting a power supply to increase or decrease a voltage to the computer processor in accordance with the appropriate operating voltage margin; and increasing the operating frequency of the active processing units in response to an acknowledgment that the power supply has been adjusted.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]This application relates to multi-core processors and, more specifically, to providing voltage adjustment as cores become active and become inactive.BACKGROUND[0002]Conventional processors may include multiple cores. For instance, a central processing unit (CPU) may include multiple ARM™ processing cores, where as a graphics processing unit (GPU) may include multiple shader cores. During operation of a multi-core processor, some cores may be active, whereas other cores may be inactive. Examples of a core being inactive include a core being clock-gated or power-collapsed or otherwise in an idle state. As load increases, the processor may increase the number of active cores, and as load decreases the processor may make some of the cores inactive.[0003]Some processing jobs may be periodic in that they tend to use a relatively large amount of power at regular time intervals. Examples include graphics processing jobs handling a sequence of frames. When a large number...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a system and method that adjusts the voltage margin of a computer processor to optimize its performance. The system detects the number of active processing cores and the operating temperature of the processor, and adjusts the voltage margin accordingly to ensure optimal performance. This adjustment can include reducing the operating frequency and increasing the operating voltage margin of the processor. The system can also adjust the operating frequency to compensate for changes in the number of active processing cores. The technical effect of this patent is improved performance and efficiency of computer processors by optimizing their voltage margin and operating frequency based on real-time data.

Problems solved by technology

As load increases, the processor may increase the number of active cores, and as load decreases the processor may make some of the cores inactive.

When a large number of cores are active, it is a possibility that periodic processing by different cores may overlap, using a large amount of power and thereby causing voltage droops.

Some voltage droops are harmless, though it may be undesirable for voltage to droop below a certain minimum level.

However, this can be wasteful, as higher operating voltages may be expected to increase leakage current in the transistors of the processor.

Images